What I am saying is that I would put the Strobist readers' two-strobe-max basketball pix up against the SportShooter readers' pix on this little challenge without a second thought.

You see, here at Strobist (Motto: "Less Gear, More Brain, Better Light') we like to think of ourselves as proactive photographers. Conceptual photographers.

Thinking photographers.

Whereas, over at Sportsshooter (Motto: "Eight FPS and Hope for the Best") they probably think of themselves as finely honed, reactive photographers.

You know, like when a highly paid, super-fit, near-perfect specimen of a human being does something absolutely amazing in front of their camera, they can make a photo.

Yo, SportsShooter Photogs:

Here's the deal.

If those Strobist readers who are members of Sportsshooter.com would be so kind as to throw a message up on that site informing them that they have been given a friendly little challenge, we could see just what they can do with the basketball group assignment. We could compare results on Monday afternoon before the Big Game.

That is, if they have the ball to compete.

So, whether you are a Strobist reader, or a Sportshooter reader, you make an iconic photo of a basketball using just two small flashes. (And available light, if you wish.)

As this is a simple little lighting project, we are not talking photo-of-Michael-Jordan-skying-over-the-Chicago-skyline stuff, either. Just shoot a basketball with modest lighting gear and make it interesting.

For you international readers on both sites, if you do not have a basketball, feel free to play with a soccer ball. (We know you have a soccer ball.)

Put the result in Flickr and tag it as STROBISTFINALFOUR. Maybe someone at Sportshooter could create a gallery for their stuff. Or just stick a URL to your photo in the comments of this post. We're not trying to make this hard.

If you guys wanna play, that is.

If you are a Strobist reader and a Sportsshooter reader, you will have to declare a side for the purposes of this little matchup. Just note it as an additional STROBIST (or a SPORTSSHOOTER) tag on your Flickr'd photo (or your URL'd comment below.)

What I am saying is that I will submit one photo and pick four more from this group's entries and put it up against their best five from Sportsshooter, any day. Well, on Monday, at least.

And to be fair, no one at Sportsshooter has any idea this is coming (heh, heh.) I tried to reach my fellow 1989 Eddie Adams alum (and Sportsshooter bigwig) Grover S., but he was off hiding out at some big industry conference on the Left Coast.

So let's just throw it out and see if anyone from Sportsshooter will bite.

[Harmless, good-natured ribbing__OFF]

Oh, and to the readers of this site: I'm counting on you.______________________________________________________